IHT Advisors see Surge in Interest as House Prices Soar

Despite the global economic downturn, house prices have continued to rise. According to Land Registry figures, the average house price in the UK has risen nearly 18% in the last 5 years.

As house prices have risen, more and more people have been turning advisors to help with their estate planning and wealth protection.

“The interest in our work has sky-rocketed in recent years,” explains Paul Dodsworth of Estate Planning Solutions, a legal firm helping clients to minimise their inheritance tax burden. “People are ending up with estates worth many hundreds of thousands of pounds, even if they’ve not got much day-to-day income.”

At the moment, bricks and mortar assets are counted as part of the estate when it comes to paying death duty. With house prices constantly increasing, this has inadvertently pushed many people over the £325,000 inheritance tax threshold.

“It’s a story that we hear all of the time. Many of the people we deal with aren’t particularly wealthy themselves but are being faced with passing on a sizable tax bill to their children, should the worst happen. It’s a worrying trend”.

Estate Planning Solutions have been renewing their focus on helping people manage their assets since it was announced, in the Autumn Statement, that the inheritance tax threshold would not be raised.

“There were some who thought that George Osborne would pull something extraordinary out of the bag, with an election coming up. Sadly, that didn’t happen. But there are lots of way of minimising the risk of hitting the threshold and we continue to help our clients to make use of them.”

Property Aspects Magazine would like to thank Paul Dodsworth for his contribution to this article.

If you would like to discuss managing your finances, should the worst happen, please give Estate Planning Solutions a call now on 01625 540033. Alternatively, please visit their website.